Hi, I haven't grown this, but if you need advice on how to grow Lophospermum, we will be able to help, do you want to grow from seed, or from semi ripe cuttings in late summer?, Derek.

Hi Derek,
I was going to order some plug plants but I didn't know whether they needed special conditions/soil etc or how large they would grow so as to gauge how many to plant in a container, so any advice would be very welcome thanks Brenda

Hi Brenda, this is a half hardy, twining climber, but I don't know what the spread is, but the height is 6 - 10 ft, and needs twigs or canes to twine around, if you buy them now, you will need to grow them on, preferably in a greenhouse, kept at a minimum temp of 45deg f, then in mid may, you will need to start hardening them off, to plant out at the end of may or early june, in the g/h grow them in either good quality multi purpose, or john innes no2, plant into moist well drained soil, preferably sandy, or you can use hanging baskets, with multi purpose, or j i no2, in containers I would imagine they would need to be about 12" apart, hope this helps, Derek.

Hello Derrek,

Thank you for all that info which is really helpful. My intention is to plant in hanging baskets in the greenhouse until the weather is much warmer(hopefully sometime this year!!!) then hang them so that they trail down the garage wall. This is the plan, whether it works remains to be seen but hopefully it will. I've just got a super dooper new big big greenhouse which has hanging bars on the apex so I thought it would be an ideal place to start them off. Also thought I'd pot up some strawberries in hanging baskets and do the same in the hope of some early berries. Thank you again for your advice which is very much appreciated.
Brenda

Hi Brenda, that sounds ok, what size g/h do you have? I have a 12 x 8, and an 8 x 6, great aren't they, Derek.

Managed to get a Rhino 12 x 8 which was on special offer with 2 louvres and 4 automatic vents - bliss!!! Just need to get some extension piping to fit the downpipes from its gutters to go into water butts. Can't wait to fill it with 3 sorts of toms, peppers, chillies and mini cucumbers soon. As it's not heated at present all my seedlings are in the house and I'm running out of room as I do grow a ridiculous number of flowers too! It feels very grandiose but as we have just moved here (Essex) from the south coast I was, for once in my life, determined to get a decent sized g/h and I just love it - just hoping we get a decent summer. Ground still too wet to plant peas and beans etc or even weed it very much - tried a patch yesterday but still rather claggy. What do you grow in your g/hs? Do you grow both veg and flowers? Brenda

Hi Brenda, the first year I had the big 1, I grew loads of toms, and dwarf french beans, plus a few sweet corn, last year I cut down on the toms, and didn't bother with the beans, or the sweet corn, I have some tender plants in at the moment, cacti, and 4 fuchsia's from Scotcat, plus some pots of tulips, which are just coming into bud, in a few weeks I will start propagating some perennials, later some shrub cuttings, I may get some toms as my wife likes the home grown ones, but eventually I want to permanently plant up either the end bed, or part of the side bed, with plants which I wouldn't be able to grow outside. I have a 6kw propane gas heater, which is powerful enough to heat a g/h twice this size, so plenty of reserve if we should get a very cold winter, Derek